It was a rough outing for the Portage Terriers last night as they got blown out by the Brooks Bandits 9-3. The Bandits came out of the gate firing, as they were able to score on the power play 1:37 into the first. The captain of the Bandits Derek Lodermeier would score again less than two minutes later as he snuck it in at the side of the net. Tyrell Mappin scored off the rush for the Bandits on the power play with a nice deke to make it 3-0 before the half way point of the first period.

Portage would respond 5 minutes later as Brett Orr sniped one off the post and in from the high slot. The Terriers came out strong in the second with Braydon MacDonald cleaning up a rebound in front to give the Terriers life and make it 3-2. Despite the Bandits doubling the shots of Portage, the Terriers tied up the game minutes later when Shawn Bowles received a nice pass from his brother and scored on the breakaway short handed. 

Brad and Shawn Bowles look for it in the corner

Penalty trouble would hurt the Terriers as the Bandits scored on a 5 on 3 and then on the 5 on 4 to make it 5-3. Momentum started to swing in favour of Brooks as they scored twice more before the end of the second.

In the third period despite being up 7-3 the Bandits continued to pour on the pressure, scoring 2 more goals and outshooting Portage 18-9. Josh Bykowski got the start in net for Portage, and made 44 saves on 53 shots. The Terriers were without some of their top players including Dean Stewart (blocked shot), Nick Henry (sick), and Chase Brakel (sick). Riley Thiessen would leave midway through the game with an upper body injury, and Cody Lightfoot would play the remainder of the game as a defenseman. 

The Terriers will now be off on Thursday and Friday before they play in the playoffs on Saturday. If the West Kelowna Warriors win on Thursday against Melfort the Terriers will finish third and will play Melfort in the 3 vs 4 game on Saturday. If Melfort beats West Kelowna, the Terriers will finish in 2nd, and will play Brooks in the 1 vs 2 final Saturday night.

For the complete box score CLICK HERE.

Terriers fight for it off of the face-off